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What she didn’t expect was a radical reappraisal of life values, being moved to tears by the cosmos and a building named in her honour.

Keira embarked on the aid mission with her boyfriend, director Davie Hayman, the son of actor David Hayman, who established the charity in 2001.

From the off, the experience was a culture shock.

River City Keira Lucchesi makes new friends in Malawi

Keira joins a workshop for women

She said: “They picked us up in a ‘bakkie’, which is a wee truck that we sat in the back of to travel around.

“That or on the back of ‘bicycle taxis’ which the Malawians ride around on, balancing all their bags, and knowing every in and out of the dirt roads.

“When we arrived in Blantyre, it was pitch-black. There’s no leccy, so I didn’t really get to see it until the next day.”

Their destination, Milonde, sits at the foot of Mount Mulanje. With a wider population of 15,000, the village has a school, several creches and not much else.

There is no electricity. Toilets are a hole in the ground. Children learn from lessons written on the walls of buildings built from bricks formed of mud from nearby ground.

Water drains into a well from Mount Mulanje.

Keira said: “I was drinking it straight from the well, and it tasted as good as the water here.”

The 27-year-old Paisley actress, who now lives in Glasgow’s west end, went to help out in several creches and a women’s workshop, as well as the feeding programme that sees Spirit Aid provide food for not only children but also their teachers.

Keira at one of the creches

Keira said: “When Davie went out a few years ago, the question Spirit Aid asked was, ‘What can we do for you?’

“They said, ‘Feed our kids.’ The principle is that if we feed the kids, we can educate them.”

It seems to be working. When Spirit Aid first visited the area, attendance rates in schools were low. Now kids come to school for nourishment, both nutritionally and educationally.

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Keira said: “It’s not just about putting a creche in and then leaving it. You have to help them sustain it.

“We went out aiming to build a creche and we built three.”

It led to an unexpected tribute.

She revealed: “One of the creches is now named Keira’s Creche.

“Leonard, who works for Spirit Aid out there, decided they should call it after me. I was pure greeting. It was actually the only time I really cried.”

Keira helps children in Malawi

Keira used her experience as an actress during workshops and drama classes. But as a board member of the charity, she was also charged with making what would be life-changing decisions for the community.

She said: “I was making decisions on how money was being spent. Do we need money to fix the solar panels or get torches?

“I was making decisions based on how the money was being spent. It’s a big deal, and I got more confident doing that as the time went on.

“It was very grown-up, making decisions that would have an impact on people’s lives. It’s hard because you want to do everything and you can’t.”

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Every Spirit Aid visit involves a football tournament, and Celtic fan Keira helped impart another aspect of Scottish culture to this corner of Africa.

She said: “The school has a football pitch and you get 3000 people coming to watch the tournament we put on, on scrubland. It’s mental. There are some teams at home here who can’t get those numbers along to watch them.

“Every game ended in penalties, and they all run on to the pitch and stand around the goal when the penalties are being taken.

“Spirit Aid Celtic won. I did some Celtic chants with 2000 kids. It was some buzz.”

Keira with Davie and kids at the football tournament

Keira also has ongoing personal aspirations for the women in the community, especially around the provision of feminine hygiene products.

She said: “I would argue that women shouldn’t have to pay for these things here, let alone anywhere else. That’s something I want to address for the girls over there.”

But she’s also aware of falling into the trap of what she refers to as “volunteerism and voyeurism”.

Keira said: “You have to be very aware of that. It’s not a cultural holiday. People who go there have to have some sort of skill they can give.

“I wasn’t there thinking, ‘This is terrible, because these people are so poor.’

“I made a decision not to do that because that’s not really helping anybody.”

Besides, the people of Milonde weren’t the only ones benefiting from the latest Spirit Aid visit.

Davie at the football tournament

Keira said: “It made me wonder if I am happy with my life.

“I am, generally, but I think there are parts of my life that I’m not happy with and I’d be happier if I lived more like they do.

“I’ve never felt the way I did after Malawi. The energy of it was incredible and the people are amazing.

“I cannot wait to go back.

“We can learn a lot more from Malawian culture than they could ever learn from us.”

● Visit dailyrecord.co.uk to see footage of Keira and Davie’s Spirit Aid visit to Malawi.